Who was Cyrus the Great?

Cyrus the Great was King of Persia and founder of the Archaemenid Empire, which stretched from Libya to India. He founded Persia by uniting the original Persian tribes with the Median tribes around 546 B.C.

Cyrus the Great lived from around 600 or 576 B.C. to 530 B.C. He is best remembered as a benevolent, tolerant and upright leader, declaring the first known Charter of Human Rights, although there are other interpretations of this action. He allowed more than 40,000 Jews held in Babylon to leave and return to Jerusalem. It is widely held that Cyrus respected the culture and traditions of the peoples that he conquered.